Hortus medicus, or figures and descriptions of the more important plants used in medicine, or possessed of poisonous qualities; with their medical properties, chemical analysis, &c. &c. ... The chemical and medical departments by John Davie Morries / by George Graves.

Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hortus medicus, or figures and descriptions of the more important plants used in medicine, or possessed of poisonous qualities; with their medical properties, chemical analysis, &c. &c. ... The chemical and medical departments by John Davie Morries / by George Graves. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    at first white, but changing to a pale red, and finally a dusky purple, produced on scapes arising directly from the root. The Black Hellebore has been long cultivated in this coun- try, being enumerated by Gerard in 1596. It is a native of Austria, Italy, and other parts of Europe, bears our climate exceedingly well, and is well worth a place in every garden, as it is not apt to encroach upon its neighbours, and produces its flower at a season when but few others can compete with it. Though long considered as the Helleborus of the ancients, there is little doubt but this plant was the H. orientalis, a plant of much more recent introduction into this country; and which, though probably equally hardy, has not yet found its way, except into the gardens of the curious.—G. The Helleborus niger is purgative and emetic when given in a full dose, and emmenago- gue and diuretic when prescribed in small quantity. It does not possess any advantage over jalap, scammony, or any brisk stimulating purgative; and, as it is poisonous, it ought never to be used for its purgative properties alone. It is said to be useful in small doses as a stimulating diuretic. Three drachms killed a dog in three hours, when introduced into the stomach and retained there by ligature; and two drachms proved fatal when applied to a wound. Giddiness, palsy of the posterior extremities, and insensibility, with efforts to vomit, were the prominent symptoms. Its activity seems to depend on a volatile acid, which is procur- ed by saponifying the fixed oil, by supersaturating the soap with tartaric acid, and then dis- tilling. The acid comes over, and consolidates in the receiver. It unites with alkalies, and forms crystallized compounds.—J. D. M. Officinal. Radix. Officinal preparations. Tinctura Hellebori Nigri, Lond. Edin. Dub. Extractum Hel- lebori Nigri, Edin. Dub. Dosis, a gr. ij. ad iv. radicis ter quaterve indies pro Diuretico; a gr. x. ad ^i. pro Ca- thartico; a 3ss. ad 3i. Tincturae; a gr. v. ad x. Extracti. STRYCHNOS nux vomica. Nuoc Vomica, or Poison-Nut. Class and Order, Pentandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Apocynete. Gen. Char. Corolla tubular, five-cleft; Berry one-celled, with a woody rind; Seeds two to five. Strychnos nux vomica ; stems unarmed; leaves ovate, stalked; cymes subterminal. S. Nux-vomica, Lin. Sp. PI. 271. Woodville, Med. Bot. 3d edit, p. 222. Roxburgh, Plants of Coroman- del, i. t. 4. This plant is common on the coast of Coromandel and other parts of the East Indies. It forms a low tree with a crooked stem, and smooth ash-coloured bark; leaves nearly round, smooth, shining, entire ; fruit a berry the size of an orange, and of a similar colour;